Made with simple and nutritious ingredients, this chicken vegetable soup comes together so quickly and easily in the Instant Pot. Light but still hearty, this Instant Pot Chicken Vegetable Soup is perfect for any occasion.
Whether you're craving something cozy on a cold day or a filling but light lunch, this Instant Pot Chicken Vegetable Soup is going to fit that bill. It's easy, healthy, and packed with flavour. You're going to wish you made extra!
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Why You'll Love This Chicken Vegetable Soup
- This instant pot chicken and veggie soup uses a lot of kitchen staples. Most of these ingredients are items I already have on hand so it's easy to whip it up last minute.
- It's easy to customize. You can add additional vegetables to this chicken vegetable Instant Pot soup. Use it as an opportunity to clear out the fridge before you head out to the grocery store.
- Want to make it even heartier? Make some pasta of your choice and serve the soup over it.
Ingredients You'll Need
- olive oil
- onion — I use a small yellow onion but if you only have white or sweet onion, feel free to use that instead.
- garlic — I always recommend using freshly minced garlic as pre-minced garlic have an aftertaste to it.
- celery — celery may seem like an ingredient you can skip but it adds a nice subtle flavour to the soup!
- chicken breast — I use boneless skinless chicken breasts but you can swap for chicken thighs if that's what you have on hand.
- chicken broth — use low sodium broth whenever possible.
- fire-roasted diced tomatoes — this adds a delicious smoky flavour to the soup!
- flavour boosters: you'll need a bay leaf, salt, black pepper, dried oregano, dried thyme, onion powder.
- russet potato — diced into ½ inch cubes so you can get a bit with every spoonful!
- carrots — I just use regular carrots but if you have some pretty coloured carrots to use up, feel free to use it instead.
- zucchini — the skin is thin enough that you can skip peeling it.
- frozen peas — the heat from the soup at the end is enough to cook through the frozen peas so no need to thaw them beforehand.
- parsley for garnish
How To Make Instant Pot Chicken Vegetable Soup
- On sauté mode, add your oil and then the diced onion, celery, and minced garlic to the Instant Pot. Sauté the onion until translucent, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add everything else to the Instant Pot except the frozen peas and parsley.
- Place the lid on, turn it to sealing. Set it to pressure cook/manual on high pressure for 10 minutes.
- Let NPR for 10 minutes before QR carefully. Taste and add more salt if desired.
- Remove the chicken and shred it.
- Add the shredded chicken back to the pot.
- Add the frozen peas and stir. The heat from the soup should cook it through immediately.
- Garnish with fresh chopped parsley before serving.
Recipes Variations
- If you do not have canned fire-roasted tomatoes, you can always swap for regular canned diced tomatoes.
- If you do not have russet potatoes, sweet potatoes can be swapped in but it'll lead to a sweeter soup.
Tips and Notes
- This chicken vegetable soup uses a 6QT Instant Pot. A smaller one may require adjusting the amount of the ingredients to get it all to fit.
- It can take anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes for the Instant Pot to come up to pressure. Not to worry as that's normal!
- If you're adding other vegetables that cook relatively quick such as broccoli florets or cauliflower, add them at the end before the peas. You can also turn on sauté mode to simmer the broccoli/cauliflower for a minute or two.
NPR is Natural Pressure Release. When your Instant Pot is done cooking (via pressure), instead of doing a QR, let the pressure come down naturally by leaving it alone until the float valve pin has dropped to indicate that the pressure is gone.
QR is quick release, which is when you turn the lid's knob from sealing to venting and the steam is released immediately.
Once the soup has cooled to room temperature, transfer the soup to airtight containers and store it for up to 4 days in the fridge. Reheat the soup in the microwave or on the stovetop.
Recipe
Instant Pot Chicken Vegetable Soup
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ yellow onion diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 stalks celery diced
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast
- 5 cups chicken broth low sodium
- 1 can fire-roasted diced tomatoes (796mL)
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 russet potato peeled and diced into ½ inch cubes
- 2 carrots peeled and diced
- 1 small zucchini cubed
- 1 cup frozen peas
- Fresh parsley for garnish, optional
Instructions
- On sauté mode, add your oil and then the diced onion, celery, and minced garlic to the Instant Pot. Sauté the onion until translucent, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add everything else to the instant pot EXCEPT the frozen peas and parsley.
- Set it to Pressure Cook/Manual on high pressure for 10 minutes.
- Let NPR for 10 minutes before QR carefully. Taste and add more salt if desired. Remove the chicken and shred it before adding it back to the pot and stirring to combine. Add the frozen peas and stir. The heat from the soup should cook it through immediately.
- Garnish with fresh chopped parsley before serving.
Jeannie says
simple, easy and warming soup and also delicious. the right soup for this weather
Brenda says
I love this recipe but wondering if I can use ground chicken?
Carmy says
It might overcook.
Amy Liu Dong says
Easy and delicious chicken soup to make, perfect to eat in this cold weather.
nancy says
delicious and one that i make repeatedly
Laura Stainer says
Made this tonight and it was really good! It was easy to put together and the flavor was great.
Carmy says
I'm so glad to hear, Laura! Thank you!
Rejeana says
I made this soup today, and we liked it. However, there’s only two of us, and the weather is getting warmer here. Can leftovers be frozen?
Carmy says
The zucchini might be too soft when thawed but other than that, I don't see an issue with freezing the leftovers!
Mary Ann Knight says
If I already have frozen shredded chicken when do I add it and how long should it cook?
Carmy says
You can always stir it in at the end on saute mode.
Sam says
If I wanted to add noodles, or rice, how would that factor in to the cooking....I appreciate any help, I am a brand new instant pot rookie ! 🙂 Thank you !
Carmy says
Hi Sam! My recommendation is when you remove the chicken to shred, simmer the soup and add the noodles or rice and cook it then. This way, you don't risk the noodles/rice overcooking or undercooking 🙂
Tom the InstaPot Guy says
I had floppy noodles that absorbed too much soup bc I added pasta *before* closing the lid - Big Mistake!
Thank you for posting this here - much appreciated.
Sandi says
This looks delicious. I don't use a Instant Pot, so can I use the same ingredients and use my Crock Pot ?
Carmy says
You sure can Sandi! I recommend sauteing the onion, celery, and garlic on the stove top before adding everything to the slow cooker.
Tom the InstaPot Guy says
Perfectly versatile recipe! Tks!
My college friend was over, and I had to make due w my ingredients on-hand:
2 Lg onions chopped
5 stalks celery ""
6 medium carrots ""
6-7oz Kale (about half a bag)
Destemmed, cut bite size
8 cups chicken stock
4 oz penne pasta*
*Warning: add the pasta after removing the lid as suggested above
I had to take out my floppy pasta with tongs to keep it from absorbing any more stock!
*Surprisingly missed all these:
Peas, zucchini, tomatoes nor potatoes.
*Used All listed spices, w/o salt
only adding:
½ tsp rosemary
2 tsp garlic pepper (contains
salt)
Then a flavor boost at the end:
½ tsp chicken bullion
My visiting college buddy loved it, so thank you for this! I sent him back with your recipe, and only adding my nonsense here so they can make the same thing for their family.
I'm looking fwd to making your original recipe!
I couldn't have done it without you! Cheers to you!!
And much Thanks.
Carmy says
Hope you get a chance to try the original! Enjoy 🙂
Mindy says
It was really good!